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Sunday, November 21, 2010

Kromex

Kromex, a division of Alcoa Aluminum Company, began producing kitchenware and serveware around 1957. Products included canister sets, salt and pepper sets, coffee and tea services, drinking glasses, spice sets, ice buckets, cake servers and trays of all sizes. Although very popular, the items were produced for a very short time.

At the time Kromex was manufactured, Alcoa was already primarily an industrial firm. In the early 1960s the company was purchased by Reynolds Aluminum, who phased out production of items for household use and concentrated on industrial production.

I recently found two Kromex tidbit servers on eBay that are in mint condition. They look like they were stored in someone’s china cabinet and never used. I got one for $4.99 and the other for $9.99. They’ll be great for serving homemade candy and slices of cheese logs over the holidays…made from my mother’s and grandmother’s recipes from back in the 1950s and 60s, of course. I’ll post more old family recipes in December.

In this post, I’ve included a recipe for a candy I remember my mother making in the 1950s. I’m sure she found it in Good Housekeeping or Ladies’ Home Journal, because she was always clipping recipes from magazines and stuffing them into her battered Better Homes and Gardens cookbook with the red-and-white-check cover. The ingredients may sound a little odd, but it was one of my favorite holiday candies…sweet, slightly salty and delightfully crunchy.


My recent Kromex finds on eBay...just in time for the holidays


Martha's Butterscotch Crunch (c. 1956)

Ingredients:

½ c. peanut butter
6 oz. package butterscotch chips
3 oz can chow mein noodles
2 c. miniature marshmallows

Combine peanut butter and butterscotch in double boiler.  Melt completely.  Stir well.  Add noodles and marshmallows.  Allow marshmallows to melt slightly.  Drop by spoon on waxed paper.  Chill until set.

8 comments:

  1. Oh I recently bought a Kromex tidbit tray with 4 trays. I will have to get these other two! Love the design of the handle. =)

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  2. Oh, wow...I'd love to see a picture of your 4-tray. Isn't the handle design great? I want to get more too!

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  3. I am always a little clueless about my thrift store purchases so I love reading posts where items are identified. I have a Kromex single tray but didn't really know what it was. Thanks for your very informative post once again. I just pulled it out of my cupboard, dusted it off and displayed it on the credenza. Yes, the handle is very cool.

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  4. I love Kromex. I found a little serving bowl (I think it's for jelly) still in the box and with a scoop at one of my local antique shops for $4. I loved the lines on it so much, I went to ebay for more... I now have 3 serving trays. They are oval, and have that same clean-lined, non-fussy look. I love using the Kromex for parties. It cleans up so easily, and I have no fear of anyone knocking it over and breaking it.

    I love your serving trays. I'm going to have to keep an eye out for one! And thank you for posting the history. I love learning about these brands.

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  5. You can find vintage Kromex on etsy .. reasonable prices .

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  6. thanks for this interesting bit of information! I've linked back to this post from my blog
    http://periwinkledzyns.blogspot.com/2011/05/my-kromex-obsession.html

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  7. Can someone tell me where I can get one the glass swirl design dish approx
    (10 1/2 L x 5" width)replacement for the Lazy Susan Chrome rotating tray. Please don't refer me to E-bay. Dont want the entire product, just (1)glass dish replaced. I have searched culinary shops online-absolutely none. Thanks will appreciate any response.

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  8. Thanks for the info! We're working through a family estate and this design caught my eye. Glad to have a little background!

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